Network Flow Problems with Electric Vehicles

Electric vehicle (EV) adoption in long-distance logistics faces challenges like range anxiety and uneven distribution of charging stations. Two pivotal questions emerge: How can EVs be efficiently routed in a charging network considering range limits, charging speeds and prices And, can the existing charging infrastructure sustain the increasing demand for EVs in long-distance logistics? This paper addresses these questions by introducing a novel theoretical and computational framework to study the EV network flow problems. We present an EV network flow model that incorporates range restrictions and nonlinear charging rates, and identify conditions under which polynomial-time solutions can be obtained for optimal single EV routing, maximum flow, and minimum cost flow problems. We develop efficient computational methods for computing the optimal routing and flow vector using a novel graph augmentation technique. Our findings provide insights for optimizing EV routing in logistics, ensuring an efficient and sustainable future.

• Algorithms and Theory